Alden Trust Awards Lasell College $160,000 Grant for New Math Lab, Math Bars

December 20, 2013 (Newton, MA) -- Lasell College has received a $160,000 grant from the George I. Alden Trust to help the College better align mathematics instruction with its Connected Learning philosophy of project-based learning and support student success through state-of-the-art technology.

The grant will enable the college to create a new Math Lab and interactive Math Bars, inspired by Apple Computer’s genius bars, which will provide live assistance to students in two locations as well as more challenging instruction for high achieving students.

The trust, established by industrialist George I. Alden in 1912, is headquartered in Worcester, Mass. and supports colleges and universities through instruction-related capital grants that support the intellectual growth of students.

“This grant provides the basis for implementing an approach to mathematics firmly rooted in the philosophy of Connected Learning.  Students will learn foundational mathematics operations in ways that enable them to perceive the relevance of mathematics to everyday life as well as to issues presented in other academic subjects.  We also believe this approach will better ensure that all Lasell students achieve competency in quantitative analysis,” said Jim Ostrow, Vice President for Academic Affairs at Lasell.

The grant will support the creation of a lab classroom for a self-paced, technologically enhanced way of learning foundational mathematics at the College and the purchase of new equipment for a re-designed math teaching space.

Group work and individualized tutoring will take place at the Math Bars through computers equipped with mathematics instructional software and iPads with mathematics instructional apps that will show students how mathematics calculations affect real-world engineering projects.

Lasell College will underwrite the cost of faculty training and consultation in relation to the enhanced instruction.

“Our current pilot project has shown that this model of customized instruction has shown great benefit to our students,” said Ostrow. “This grant helps us reach many more students to prepare them for success after graduation.”

About Lasell College

An innovative educational institution for more than 160 years, Lasell is an independent coeducational college emphasizing the integration of professional and liberal arts programs leading to bachelor’s and master’s degrees. The campus is situated on a 53-acre campus eight miles from downtown Boston. Adjacent to the college is Lasell Village, the first-of-its-kind, college-sponsored retirement community with a learning mandate that has drawn international attention.